Jesus knew He was going to die. Jesus always lived in the shadow of the cross.
William Holman Hunt was a 19th-century British painter. One of his paintings shows the interior of a carpenter’s shop. Joseph and the young man Jesus are working inside. The painting shows Jesus pausing from His work in order to stretch Himself. And as He does, His shadow on the wall behind Him is in the form of a cross. Another of Hunt’s paintings depicts the infant Jesus running with outstretched arms to His mother Mary. And as Jesus runs, his shadow cast the form of a cross. Those paintings depict the truth of why Christ came to earth. Jesus came to die.